User interface for presentation of a document

ABSTRACT

A system identifies a document and provides an excerpt page corresponding to the document. The excerpt page includes a page of the document and a set of links to sections of the document. One of the links corresponds to a section containing the page and includes text associated with the link, a next page element to permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element to permit a previous page in the document to be presented. The next page element and the previous page element are visually associated with the text associated with the link.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention relate generally to information retrieval and, more particularly, to a user interface for the presentation of information regarding a document.

2. Description of Related Art

Modern computer networks, and in particular, the Internet, have made large bodies of information widely and easily available. Free Internet search engines, for instance, index many millions of web documents that are linked to the Internet. A user connected to the Internet can enter a simple search query to quickly locate web documents relevant to the search query.

One category of content that is not widely available on the Internet, however, includes the more traditional printed works of authorship, such as books and magazines. One impediment to making such works digitally available is that it can be difficult to convert printed versions of the works to digital form. Optical character recognition (OCR), which is the act of using an optical scanning device to generate images of text that are then converted to characters in a computer-readable format (e.g., an ASCII file), is a known technique for converting printed text to a useful digital form. OCR systems generally include an optical scanner for generating images of printed pages and software for analyzing the images.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, a method may include receiving a search query, identifying a document based on the search query, and providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document. The excerpt page may include a page of the document and a set of links to sections of the document. One of the links corresponds to the page and includes text describing the link, a next page element to permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element to permit a previous page in the document to be presented. The next page element and the previous page element are visually associated with the text describing the link.

According to another aspect, a graphical user interface embodied in a computer-readable medium may include an image of a page from a document, a first link to a first section of the document, and text associated with a second link to a second section of the document, where the page is included in the second section of the document. A next page element and a previous page element are visually associated with the text associated with the second link. The next page element permits an image of a next page from the document to be presented and the previous page element permits an image of a previous page from the document to be presented.

According to a further aspect, a system may include means for identifying a document and means for providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document. The excerpt page may include a page of the document and a set of links to sections of the documents. One of the links corresponds to a section containing the page and includes text associated with the link, a next page element to permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element to permit a previous page in the document to be presented. The next page element and the previous page element are visually associated with the text associated with the link.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, explain the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network in which systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server of FIG. 1 according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts of exemplary processing for presenting information regarding a document related to a search query according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a user interface for presenting search results according to implementations consistent with the principles of the invention; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are exemplary diagrams of pages that may be presented according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention.

Overview

More and more types of documents are becoming searchable via search engines. For example, some documents, such as books, magazines, and/or catalogs, may be scanned and their text recognized via OCR. It is beneficial to present information regarding these and other types of documents in a manner that is useful to users seeking such information.

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may provide information regarding documents in a manner that is useful to users interested in the documents.

Exemplary Network Configuration

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network 100 in which systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented. Network 100 may include multiple clients 110 connected to multiple servers 120-140 via a network 150. Two clients 110 and three servers 120-140 have been illustrated as connected to network 150 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more or fewer clients and servers. Also, in some instances, a client may perform the functions of a server and a server may perform the functions of a client.

Clients 110 may include client entities. An entity may be defined as a device, such as a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another type of computation or communication device, a thread or process running on one of these devices, and/or an object executable by one of these devices. Servers 120-140 may include server entities that gather, process, search, and/or maintain documents in a manner consistent with the principles of the invention.

In an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention, server 120 may include a search engine 125 usable by clients 110. Server 120 may crawl a corpus of documents (e.g., web documents), index the documents, and store information associated with the documents in a repository of documents. Alternatively or additionally, server 120 may analyze a database (or set of databases) of documents (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, articles, catalogs, etc.), obtained electronically by scanning or otherwise, and store information associated with the documents in the same or a different repository. Servers 130 and 140 may store or maintain documents that may be crawled or analyzed by server 120.

While servers 120-140 are shown as separate entities, it may be possible for one or more of servers 120-140 to perform one or more of the functions of another one or more of servers 120-140. For example, it may be possible that two or more of servers 120-140 are implemented as a single server. It may also be possible for a single one of servers 120-140 to be implemented as two or more separate (and possibly distributed) devices.

Network 150 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet, a memory device, or a combination of networks. Clients 110 and servers 120-140 may connect to network 150 via wired, wireless, and/or optical connections.

Exemplary Client/Server Architecture

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server entity (hereinafter called “client/server entity”), which may correspond to one or more of clients 110 and/or servers 120-140, according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. The client/server entity may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a main memory 230, a read only memory (ROM) 240, a storage device 250, an input device 260, an output device 270, and a communication interface 280. Bus 210 may include a path that permits communication among the elements of the client/server entity.

Processor 220 may include a conventional processor, microprocessor, or processing logic that interprets and executes instructions. Main memory 230 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that may store information and instructions for execution by processor 220. ROM 240 may include a conventional ROM device or another type of static storage device that may store static information and instructions for use by processor 220. Storage device 250 may include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.

Input device 260 may include a conventional mechanism that permits an operator to input information to the client/server entity, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms, etc. Output device 270 may include a conventional mechanism that outputs information to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communication interface 280 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enables the client/server entity to communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example, communication interface 280 may include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a network, such as network 150.

As will be described in detail below, the client/server entity, consistent with the principles of the invention, may perform certain document processing-related operations. The client/server entity may perform these operations in response to processor 220 executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory 230. A computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical memory device and/or carrier wave.

The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from another computer-readable medium, such as data storage device 250, or from another device via communication interface 280. The software instructions contained in memory 230 may cause processor 220 to perform processes that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement processes consistent with the principles of the invention. Thus, implementations consistent with the principles of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

Exemplary Processing

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts of exemplary processing for presenting information regarding a document related to a search query according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Processing may begin with a user providing a search term (or a group of search terms) as a search query for searching a document repository. In one implementation, the document repository includes documents available from the Internet and/or a database and the vehicle for searching this repository is a search engine, such as search engine 125 (FIG. 1). The user may provide the search query via web browser software on a client, such as client 110 (FIG. 1).

The search query may be received by the search engine and used to identify documents (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, articles, catalogs, etc.) related to the search query (acts 305 and 310) (FIG. 3A). A number of techniques exist for identifying documents related to a search query. One such technique might include identifying documents that contain the search term or synonyms of the search term. When the search query includes more than one search term, then a technique might include identifying documents that contain the search terms as a phrase, that contain the search terms but not necessarily together, or that contain less than all of the search terms. Yet other techniques are known to those skilled in the art.

Optionally, the documents may be scored in some manner (act 315). For example, the score for a document may be based on an information retrieval (IR) score. Several techniques exist for generating an IR score. For example, an IR score for a document may be generated based on the number of occurrences of the search terms in the document text, where the search terms occur within the document (e.g., title, content, footer, header, etc.), or characteristics of occurrences of the search terms (e.g., font, size, color, etc.). Yet other techniques are known to those skilled in the art.

Search results may be formed based on the documents and their optional scores and presented to the user (act 320). In one implementation, the search results may include information associated with the documents, such as links to the documents, that may optionally be sorted based on the document scores. The search results may be provided as a HTML document, similar to search results provided by conventional search engines. Alternatively, the search results may be provided according to another format agreed upon by the search engine and the client (e.g., Extensible Markup Language (XML)).

FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a user interface for presenting search results according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Assume that a user provided a search query that included the search term “memory” and a search was performed based on the search query to identify a set of documents related to the search query.

In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 4, a search result 410 may include a document title 412, author information 414, an excerpt 416 from the document, an address 418 associated with the document, links 420 to other relevant excerpts in the document, and an image 422 associated with the document. Document title 412 may include a title associated with the document. Selection of document title 412 may cause detailed information, possibly in the form of an excerpt page (described below), associated with the document to be presented. Author information 414 may include the name(s) of the author(s) of the document.

Excerpt 416 may include a portion of the document that includes a search term of the search query. Optionally, occurrences of the search term may be visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted) in the portion of the document. Excerpt 416 may also include a page number associated with the excerpt. In one implementation, selection of the page number (or excerpt 416) may result in presentation of detailed information, possibly in the form of an excerpt page (described below), associated with the document.

Address 418 may include an address at which the document is stored. Links 420 may permit one or more other excerpts from the document to be presented to the user. Image 422 may include an image of, for example, a front cover (or another portion) of the document (if available). In one implementation, image 422 includes a thumbnail version of the front cover of the document. Image 422 may optionally include an embedded link that, when selected, may result in presentation of detailed information, possibly in the form of an excerpt page (described below), associated with the document.

Returning to FIG. 3A, one of the documents in the search results may be selected by the user (act 325). In one implementation, selection of a document may include selection of a link associated with the document, such as selection of document title 412 (FIG. 4), excerpt 416, or image 422.

In one implementation consistent with the principles of the invention, detailed information regarding a document, possibly in the form of an excerpt page, may be presented to the user in response to the user selecting the document (act 330) (FIG. 3B).

FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of an excerpt page 500 that may be presented according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Excerpt page 500 may include document title and author information 510, an image 520 associated with the document, an excerpt 530 from the document, a set of links 540 for purchasing the document, a set of advertisements 550 associated with the document, and links 560 to different portions of the document. In other implementations, excerpt page 500 may include more, fewer, or different types of information.

Document title and author information 510 may include a title associated with the document and/or the name(s) of the author(s) of the document. Image 520 may include an image of, for example, a front cover (or another portion) of the document (if available). In one implementation, image 520 may include a thumbnail version of the front cover of the document.

Excerpt 530 may include text from a page of the body of the document that may include a search term of the search query or another page of the document, such as a copyright page, a table of contents, or an index, within an excerpt window. Excerpt 530 may correspond to an image of the page text or the text version and, in one implementation, may include all or substantially all of the text from the page. Optionally, occurrences of the search term may be visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted) on the page. In another implementation, excerpt 530 may include text from a set of two (or more) pages. The pages may optionally be presented in a manner based on their corresponding page numbers.

A zoom feature 532 may be associated with excerpt 530. Zoom feature 532 may permit a user to zoom in (or zoom out) on a portion of the page presented in excerpt 530. Techniques for zooming in or out on a page are well known in the art.

Links 540 may permit a user to purchase the document. For example, selection of one of links 540 may cause a page associated with a document retailer or a set of document retailers to be presented to the user to aid the user is purchasing the document or a portion of the document. Advertisement(s) 550 may include a set of advertisements associated with a business that sells the document, other documents associated with the author, and/or documents relating to a same topic as the document.

Links 560 may include links to various portions of the document. For example, the links may reference a reference page 561, a copyright page 563, a table of contents 565, a currently or previously accessed page (e.g., a page from the body of the document that is currently or was previously presented in excerpt 530) 567, and/or an index 569 associated with the document. In other implementations, links 560 may reference more, fewer, or different portions of the document. Selection of one of links 561-569 may cause text of the corresponding page to be presented in excerpt 530.

Whichever one of links 561-569 that corresponds to the page presented in excerpt 530 may be replaced with text that corresponds to the link and previous and next page elements. The link text may be visually distinguished in some manner with regard to other ones of links 561-569. As shown in FIG. 5, page link 567 corresponds to page 82, which is currently presented in excerpt 530. In this case, page link 567 is replaced with text that corresponds to the link and previous and next page elements. The previous page and next page elements are visually associated with the text of page link 567 and are shown in FIG. 5 as arrows that permit a user to be presented with a previous page (e.g., page 81) or a next page (e.g., page 83) in the document. Optionally, the previous page and next page elements may indicate in some manner (e.g., by shading, color, or otherwise) whether a user is permitted to select a previous or next page. In some instances, a user may be restricted from accessing certain pages or more than a predetermined number of pages in a document.

Returning to FIG. 3B, it may be determined whether a next or previous excerpt page is desired (act 335). In one implementation, selection of a next or previous page element associated with the text of page link 567 may indicate a user's desire to be presented with a next or previous page in the document. In response to selection of a next or previous page element associated with the text of page link 567, a next or previous page in the document may be presented to the user (act 330). The text of page link 567 may then be updated based on the new page number.

It may also be determined whether another portion of the document (e.g., a reference page, a copyright page, a table of contents, or an index) is desired (act 340). In one implementation, selection of reference page link 561, copyright page link 563, table of contents link 565, or index link 569 may indicate a user's desire to be presented with another portion of the document. In response to selection of reference page link 561, copyright page link 563, table of contents link 565, or index link 569, a corresponding page in the document may be presented to the user (act 345).

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of an excerpt page 600 that may be presented according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Excerpt page 600 may include document title and author information 510, an image 520 associated with the document, an excerpt 530 from the document, a set of links 540 for purchasing the document, a set of advertisements 550 associated with the document, and links 560 to different portions of the document, as described above with regard to FIG. 5.

Assume that the user selected index link 569 in excerpt page 500 (FIG. 5). Accordingly, excerpt 530 in excerpt page 600 may include text of a page of the index of the document. Excerpt 530 may correspond to an image of the page text or the text version and, in one implementation, may include all or substantially all of the text from the page. In another implementation, excerpt 530 may include text from a set of two (or more) pages. The pages may optionally be presented in a manner based on their corresponding page numbers.

Page link 567 in excerpt page 600 includes a link to page 82 of the document (i.e., a page previously presented in excerpt 530). When selected, page link 567 may cause an excerpt page to be presented similar to excerpt page 500. Index link 569 in excerpt page 600 may be replaced with text that corresponds to the link and previous and next page elements. The link text may be visually distinguished in some manner with regard to links 561-567. The previous page and next page elements are visually associated with the text of link 569 and are shown in FIG. 6 as arrows that permit a user to be presented with a previous page or a next page of the index in the document. Optionally, the previous page and next page elements may indicate in some manner (e.g., by shading, color, or otherwise) whether a user is permitted to select a previous or next page. For example, the user may not be permitted to select a previous page when excerpt 530 corresponds to the first page of the index or select a next page when excerpt 530 corresponds to the last page of the index.

Returning to FIG. 3B, it may be determined whether a next or previous page is desired (act 350). In one implementation, selection of a next or previous page element associated with link 569 may indicate a user's desire to be presented with a next or previous page in the document. In response to selection of a next or previous page element associated with link 569, a next or previous page in the document may be presented to the user (act 330).

CONCLUSION

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may provide information regarding documents in a manner that is useful to the users.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the present invention provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention.

For example, while series of acts have been described with regard to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the order of the acts may be modified in other implementations consistent with the principles of the invention. Further, non-dependent acts may be performed in parallel.

It has been described that a document is identified as a result of a search. In other implementations, however, the document may be identified in other ways, such as from a directory, category, or other listing of documents.

Also, exemplary user interfaces have been described with respect to FIGS. 4-6. In other implementations consistent with the principles of the invention, the user interfaces may include more, fewer, or different pieces of information.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that aspects of the invention, as described above, may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement aspects consistent with the principles of the invention is not limiting of the present invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were described without reference to the specific software code—it being understood that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to design software and control hardware to implement the aspects based on the description herein.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. 

1. A method, comprising: receiving a search query; identifying a document based on the search query; and providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document, the excerpt page comprising: a page of the document, and a plurality of links to sections of the document, one of the links corresponding to the page and including text describing the one link, a next page element to permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element to permit a previous page in the document to be presented, the next page element and the previous page element being visually associated with the text describing the one link.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the page comprises an image of the page.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the page comprises a text version of the page.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the page comprises substantially all text of the page.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the links reference at least two of: a reference page associated with the document, a copyright page associated with the document, a table of contents associated with the document, a page associated with the body of the document, or an index associated with the document.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the page associated with the body of the document comprises a page currently presented within the excerpt page or a page previously presented within the excerpt page.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving selection of one of the links, and presenting a page associated with the section corresponding to the selected link.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: replacing the selected link with text associated with the selected link.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising: providing the next page element and the previous page element in visual association with the text associated with the selected link, the next page element permitting a next page of the document to be presented, the previous page element permitting a previous page of the document to be presented.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the next page element visually indicates whether the next page can be presented, and the previous page element visually indicates whether the previous page can be presented.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the next page element visually indicates whether the next page can be presented, and the previous page element visually indicates whether the previous page can be presented.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the links comprise a page link associated with a page within the body of the document that is currently presented in the excerpt page or was previously presented in the excerpt page, the page link identifying the page within the body of the document by page number.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the document comprises a scanned document.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the document comprises one of a book, a magazine, or a catalog.
 15. A graphical user interface embodied in a computer-readable medium, comprising: an image of a page from a document; a first link to a first section of the document; and text associated with a second link to a second section of the document, the page being included in the second section of the document, a next page element and a previous page element being visually associated with the text associated with the second link, the next page element permitting an image of a next page from the document to be presented and the previous page element permitting an image of a previous page from the document to be presented.
 16. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the second link comprises one of: a link to a reference page associated with the document, a link to a copyright page associated with the document, a link to a table of contents associated with the document, a link to a page within the body of the document, or a link to an index associated with the document.
 17. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the text associated with the second link is visually distinguished with regard to the first link.
 18. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the image of the page comprises substantially all text of the page.
 19. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the second link comprises one of: a link to a reference page associated with the document, a link to a copyright page associated with the document, a link to a table of contents associated with the document, or a link to an index associated with the document; and wherein the first link comprises a link to a page within the body of the document that was previously presented within the graphical user interface, the first link identifying the page within the body of the document by page number.
 20. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the first link comprises one of: a link to a reference page associated with the document, a link to a copyright page associated with the document, a link to a table of contents associated with the document, or a link to an index associated with the document; and wherein the second link comprises a link to a page within the body of the document that is currently presented within the graphical user interface, the text associated with the second link identifying the page within the body of the document by page number.
 21. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the next page element visually indicates whether the next page can be presented, and the previous page element visually indicates whether the previous page can be presented.
 22. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the document comprises a scanned document.
 23. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the document comprises one of a book, a magazine, or a catalog.
 24. A system, comprising: means for identifying a document; and means for providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document, the excerpt page comprising: a page of the document, and a plurality of links to sections of the documents, one of the links corresponding to a section containing the page and including text associated with the link, a next page element to permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element to permit a previous page in the document to be presented, the next page element and the previous page element being visually associated with the text associated with the link.
 25. A method, comprising: identifying a document; and providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document, the excerpt page comprising: a page of the document, the page being associated with one of a reference page, a copyright page, a table of contents, or an index associated with the document, and a plurality of links to sections of the documents, one of the links corresponding to one of the reference page, the copyright page, the table of contents, or the index, another one of the links corresponding to a page within the body of the document that was previously presented within the excerpt page and identifying the page within the body of the document by page number.
 26. A graphical user interface embodied in a computer-readable medium, comprising: an excerpt window that presents a page from a document; a first link corresponding to a copyright page associated with the document, selection of the first link causing an image of the copyright page to be presented in the excerpt window; a second link corresponding to a table of contents associated with the document, selection of the second link causing an image of a page of the table of contents to be presented in the excerpt window; a third link corresponding to an index associated with the document, selection of the third link causing an image of a page of the index to be presented in the excerpt window; and a fourth link corresponding to a page within the body of the document, the fourth link identifying the page within the body of the document by page number, selection of the fourth link causing an image of the page within the body of the document to be presented in the excerpt window.
 27. The graphical user interface of claim 26, further comprising: a next page element visually associated with one of the first, second, third, or fourth link, the next page element permitting a next page to be presented in the excerpt window; and a previous page element visually associated with the one of the first, second, third, or fourth link, the previous page element permitting a previous page to be presented in the excerpt window.
 28. The graphical user interface of claim 27, wherein the next page element visually indicates whether the next page can be presented, and the previous page element visually indicates whether the previous page can be presented.
 29. A computer-readable medium that contains computer-executable instructions, comprising: instructions for providing an excerpt window that presents a page from a document; instructions for providing a first link corresponding to one of a copyright page, a table of contents, or an index; instructions for providing a second link corresponding to a page within the body of the document, the second link identifying the page within the body of the document by page number; instructions for presenting an image corresponding to one of the copyright page, the table of contents, or the index in the excerpt window when the first link is selected; and instructions for presenting an image of the page within the body of the document in the excerpt window when the second link is selected. 